Motorcity shorts
by bluemimosa
Summary: Random Motorcity short stories. Chapter 8: After Julie has to break plans again Claire takes some good natured revenge
1. luck

"Mike, this sounds really dangerous." She said.

"Well, if you can disengage the security lasers I won't have anything to worry about." He replied.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Except for drones, hounds and the possible ultragolem."

"See? Piece of cake."

She kissed him on the cheek, muttered "for luck" and looked away.

He stared at her. Then he reached out and touched her shoulder. "Wait a minute. If I'm going to be dodging hounds, drones and ultragolems, I'm going to need more luck than that."

When she turned to face him she was blushing but her grin matched his own.


	2. truth

Julie had been dreading this. But after everything she felt like she owed her father something. Kane glared at her through the force shield. He snarled "How could you join Chilton?"

There were so many reasons. _Because what you were doing was wrong. Because he's a good man. Because he actually listened to me. _ She finally settled for what had been the deciding factor years ago.

"Because out of all the people who wanted to stop you he was the only one who didn't want you dead in the bargain."

She didn't know if that answer was kind or cruel.


	3. letters home

In the Motorcity series bible it says that Chuck's parents live in Deluxe and have no clue he's in Motorcity. They just think he's working in another part of Deluxe. When I first heard that I thought that either they were stupid or the family wasn't that close. But what if neither of those things were true?

* * *

><p>Alice sighed as Myrtle got on the elevator just before the door had time to shut. It had been a long day at work and she could do without hearing the latest vicious gossip on the way back to her living pod. Myrtle started in right away. "Did you hear about the latest thing Mike Chilton did? To think we used to have a terrorist living on the floor below us."<p>

Alice commented "I don't think we did. He was just a friendly boy. The Chiltons were such a nice family, it's a shame what happened to them."

Myrtle nodded. "I suppose going through something like that could change a person. If you had asked me back then who I thought would run off to Motorcity I would have said your Chuck. He was always going on about cars."

Alice suppressed an urge to slap her neighbor and laughed instead. "That was when he was a little boy. He's perfectly happy being a hover repulsor interface technician. In fact I just got a text from him yesterday."

The elevator finally reached their floor and as they headed to their respective living pods Alice reflected that at least the last bit had been true.

When Chuck's first job assignment was far away she was had been somewhat relieved. They would miss him but rumor had it that the outer edges were a little more laid back than the city center. All his talk about new ideas and old machines might be more likely to escape notice. When Chuck began dodging vid calls and putting off visits she was a little worried but Hank assured her that teenage boys needed their space. She hoped her husband was right and it wasn't anything serious. However when news trickled down to them that Chuck's best friend had defected to Motorcity and was assembling a resistance band she began putting two and two together.

She went over to her console and pulled up her son's texts.

_. . . Sorry I haven't been able to vidchat in a while but things are crazy at work and my new roleplaying group keeps me busy on the weekends. . . _

He sounded happy. Of course he sounded like he was still in deluxe so that could be deceiving as well.

_. . . I'm glad to hear you were already at work and didn't get caught up in the safe-T- suit malfunction. . ._

Chuck never even hinted that he wasn't still at his worksite. He might have been trying to keep them from worrying. It wasn't working. She used to worry that he wasn't getting enough to eat, wasn't making friends, or was saying the wrong things to the wrong people.

Now she worried for his safety every day. She feared that something would happen to her boy they would never know anything besides that the letters had stopped.

_. . . I talked some of work friends into going roleplaying with me this weekend. Still undefeated!_

Maybe he didn't trust them. Heaven knows she and Hank had talked to him enough times about not upsetting the status quo. Maybe he thought they would turn them in. Or maybe he just didn't trust the information system. She knew some of the computer connections she" fixed" at work were never broken in the first place. It wouldn't surprise her if people in authority were randomly reading the mail.

_. . . There was a rush job at work today but we managed to salvage the old pods right before they were due to be scrapped . . ._

She used to wonder if she was just letting her imagination run away with her. Sure Chuck talked big but he was cautious in his actions. He wouldn't really leave the safety of Deluxe would he? She wasn't completely sure until the day the city almost overloaded.

First there was Mike Chilton interrupting Kane's morning announcements. Surely the person he was talking to just off camera was Chuck. She felt a surge of irrational pride. Her son had managed to crack the security protocols on Mr. Kane's personal pod. Chuck had always been so good at programming. It was quickly replaced with a much more rational surge of fear. Her genius son was stupidly putting himself in harm's way.

Then things had gone wrong and Kane got control back. The burners escaped immediate capture but where could they go with the city locked down? Then the wanted poster went up. She stared at it. Hank reached over and took her hand. "Well, at least we know he's getting enough to eat."

The burners had gotten away eventually. She wondered how many other near misses there had been that she never knew about.

_. . . I went on a double date last night. At least _I_ think it counts. . ._

Maybe Chuck was trying to protect them. If he was caught it wouldn't take KaneCo long to trace him back to them. If that day came and the KaneCo Ultra Elites ever brought them in for questioning Chuck had provided them a way out. They could produce his letters and honestly say that Chuck had never even told them he was in Motorcity.

And now if the whispers Hank had been hearing at work were true something major was about to go down in Motorcity. Her son was in more danger than ever and she had to go through her day as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening.

She had to be brave. Like Chuck.


	4. 8 years ago: Mike and Chuck

8 years before the series, Detroit Deluxe

Mike wasn't usually one for watching movies. He spent enough time sitting still in school; there was no need to do it for fun. But it was raining today. First Chuck hadn't wanted to go outside and then Chuck's mother had suggested they watch a movie. (Maybe they shouldn't have tried to turn the living room into a grid ball court.)

So now Mike was sprawled on the couch drumming his heel against the armrest while Chuck scrolled through the movies available on his family's port.

"There's a new getaway gang movie." He said.

Mike shook his head. "Nah, those all have the same plot."

"The Seven Cities of Cibola" Chuck read the next title, stumbling over the last word.

Mike looked up. "Never heard of it."

"It must be one of my Dad's, he like old stuff like that." Chuck tapped his finger on the screen to bring up a description. "An archaeologist adventurer fights a gang of bandits to preserve ancient Incan ruins."

"What's an archaeologist?" Mike asked.

"It's like a scientist who studies old stuff" Chuck replied.

"Well the adventure part sounds cool at least." Mike said.

Chuck started up the movie. It really was old. It wasn't in 3-D or even high-rez.

"Hey look a death trap!" Mike said. This movie was turning out to be a lot less educational than he'd feared.

"Why is it even still working?" Chuck asked.

An hour later both boys were still glued to screen. The movie had their complete attention although for different reasons.

"He's not making measurements, he's not even writing anything down. What kind of a scientist is this!?"

"Shhh, I'm trying to watch the swordfight."


	5. 8 years ago: Dutch

8 years before the series, Detroit Deluxe

It wasn't often Dutch got the bedroom to himself. His mother had some complicated spreadsheet from work on the screens in the front room and his Dad had taken Dar for a walk to get him out of the way. He decided to take advantage of the rare quiet to work on his art homework.

He finished his sketch and taped it up on the wall. It needed something. It was supposed to be a city but here on the large wall it just looked like a couple of buildings. It needed more. Quickly he stuck a second sheet of paper next to it and expanded the sky line. Soon he added another piece of paper. And then another. The edges didn't quite match up. His colored pencils wouldn't do for filling in the gaps but his pastels worked. He was in the zone. He added clouds and pods and soon the cityscape scrawled across seven haphardly placed pieces of paper and beyond onto the surrounding wall. Just when he was wondering how he could possibly bring this in to school to show his art teacher the door hissed open and he jumped guiltily.

"Cool" Dar said running over to examine it more closely. His father just shook his head. "Oh, Dutch. We buy you all that paper for a reason."


	6. 8 years ago: Julie and Claire

8 years before the series, Detroit Deluxe

Girls streamed into the main hallway of the Deluxe Sport Center as their Junior Ballet class let out. The teacher had just announced auditions for the fall recital and excitement was high. Julie spun around as if she were auditioning already. "This is so exciting! We're finally getting a chance to do real parts not just buttercups or animals. We get to actually dance instead of just look cute."

"There's nothing wrong with looking cute. But I know what you mean." Claire said. "Do you think your Dad will come this time?"

Julie's face fell. "No, he's too busy. He'll just have someone tape it again."

"Even if you get a real part?" Claire asked her brow wrinkling.

"It's not so bad. That way we get to watch it together. And he always makes the screen really big so it's like I'm in a movie."

The idea of being in a movie won Claire over. "That is so cool and you'll get to see how well you do. It sounds great."

_Yeah, almost as good as if he could make it._ Julie sighed and then pasted the smile back on her face as she saw Claire's mother coming to pick them up.


	7. 8 years ago: Texas

8 years before the series, Motorcity

He'd gotten a new hat at the flea market that morning. It had a star on it. It also had some words but he hadn't bothered about those. He liked the star. Now he was headed to the yard. It was an area that was almost cleared of junk and scrap where the neighborhood children played. He'd watched a kung fu movie last night and wanted to try out some of the moves. He hoped that his friends would be there.

The first person he saw wasn't a friend at all. In fact he was more of an enemy. He was older boy, a little too old to still be hanging around the yard, who liked picking on the littler kids. The boy would have to walk right past the bully. He was doing his best confident swagger when the older boy grabbed the hat off of his head.

"Give it back"

"Make me" the bully taunted, holding the hat just out of the boy's reach.

He lunged but the bully just lifted it up higher "Don't Mess with Texas? What's that mean?"

"It means I'm Texas and you shouldn't mess with me." The boy charged, slammed his head into the bully's stomach and knocked him to the ground.

Three minutes later the boy had his hat back. He also had a black eye, a new name and a reputation at the yard.

This was the best day of his life.


	8. girl talk

Claire was surprised to see Julie already waiting for her at the Galleria's Make-up counter. It wasn't like her best friend to be early these days. Or even on time.

"You missed a totes amaze afterparty last night." Claire said.

"I'm sorry I had to leave early." Julie apologized. "I'll bet it was more fun than the factory tour Dad took me on."

"That doesn't sound like a normal intern job." Claire said examining the new mascara display. (Mega-mascara: eyelashes any longer would be against Kane-co safety regulations)

"It isn't. I'm getting special training." Julie said.

Clare rolled her eyes. "Girl, you realize either one of your lives is busier than mine?"

Julie sighed. " I know. So did Lizzy end up winning the race then?"

Clare made a face. "No, some guy with a hat pulled ahead in the last lap. Doesn't mean we couldn't celebrate. Thanks for abandoning me beeteedubs."

"I couldn't help it, I got called in!" Julie protested. "Besides, I made sure you had a ride back."

Claire was grateful for that. The Amazons would have gotten her home eventually but when Mike showed up he saved her the embarrassment of admitting she still had a curfew.

"Thanks for that. Mike got me to Deluxe before my parents freaked. And we had an interesting conversation."

"You didn't lecture him did you?" Julie asked warily.

"No, I just asked him his opinions on dating." Claire said.

"What?!"

"Don't worry I didn't bring you up at all. I just said a couple of the Amazons were talking about how hot he was."

Julie glared at her.

"What? They were."

Julie glared harder.

Claire pursed her lips and gazed into the distance. "I believe I heard 'he's got the sexy bad boy look going for him.'" (Right before she heard "if you're into cradle robbing" but Julie didn't need to know _that_.)

Julie put down the lipstick she had been examining with a little more force than necessary.

"Anyway he said he was flattered but his life was way too complicated to worry about that kind of stuff right now. Sound familiar?" Claire looked at Julie expectantly.

Julie refused to meet her eyes. "Look the new nail polish is out already."

Julie was trying to distract her but . . . oooh, that was a cute color.


End file.
